The latest budget news from The Texas Tribune.
Lawmakers will find themselves in a multibillion-dollar ditch when they return to Austin in January 2011. Constitutionally, they can't write a deficit budget, so they're expected to use not just cuts but revenue raisers to keep the books in balance. Ben Philpott, who covers politics and public policy for KUT News and the Tribune, filed this report. Full Story
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The Texas Legislature will find itself in a multi-billion dollar budget hole when lawmakers return to Austin in 2011. Constitutionally, the state's budget can't run a deficit. Ben Philpott covers state politics and policy for KUT News and the Texas Tribune, and reports that lawmakers are expected to use a mixture of budget cuts and revenue raisers to keep the state in the black. Full Story
The just-passed federal health care reform bill would prohibit states from dropping kids off the Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid until 2019. Texas budget writers used changes in CHIP eligibility to help balance the state's books in 2003. Ben Philpott, covering politics and public policy for the KUT News and the Tribune, reports on what the "no-drop" provision could mean to a state facing another multibillion-dollar budget shortfall next year. Full Story
A new study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas compares the 2008-09 recession to other downturns — and puts it at the top of the list. Ben Philpott filed this report for KUT News and the Tribune. Full Story
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Census Bureau questionnaires arrive at 8.4 million Texas homes this week. "Fill that sucker out," the bureau's regional director says, "so we don't have to come and knock on your door." Full Story
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"You have to do a few things when you run for office in Texas," says one of Rick Perry's allies. "You have to debate. You have to release your tax returns. And you have to say you won't raise taxes." Bill White will surely debate the governor before November's general election, but at the moment he hasn't done the other two. The former probably won't sink him, but the latter could — by declining to drink the no-new-taxes potion, he's handing his opponent a weapon to use against him. Unless, of course, he's successful at changing the way the argument goes. Full Story
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The big-government crowd in Washington and elsewhere are bankrupting our country. And Republicans are just as culpable as Democrats in treating our taxpayer dollars as “other people’s money” to be spent as they and the special interests decide. Full Story
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Sound economic policy was sacrificed on the altar of short-term political gain in the George W. Bush administration. This buying of political support with taxpayers’ money brings to mind the words of Alexis de Tocqueville in Democracy in America: “The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public’s money.” Full Story
Loving County, in far West Texas, spent about $1,100 per resident in U.S. Department of Homeland Security grant funds from 2003 to 2008. Compare that with Harris County, which spent less than $6 per resident. Contemplate the disparity — and search for individual purchases with DHS grant money — using our latest data application. Full Story
When the George W. Bush administration turned out to be a failure, “conservatism” got the blame — even though Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney (like so many others who served alongside them) had been part of the anti-Reagan wing of the Republican Party. Full Story
Eva Guzman hung on to her recently secured spot on the Texas Supreme Court with a robust lead over Rose Vela, her challenger from the 13th Court of Appeals. Full Story
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Eleven employees in the state's treasury division got $360,000 in bonuses last year. Full Story
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Introducing the House Select Committee on Transportation Funding. Full Story
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Democratic gubernatorial candidate Bill White asks Texans, "Do you think you're getting your money's worth out of state government?" Full Story
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Budget crunching, the EPA offends Texans, early voting is underway, and gay couples still can't get ... a divorce. Full Story
More than 373,000 Texans went uncounted by the 2000 census, resulting in a loss of $1 billion in federal funds. With eight of the nation's 50 hardest-to-count counties right here in our state, the coming 2010 census is a cause for concern — and an apparent lack of attention by elected officials is making matters worse. Full Story
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State agencies are expected to submit their budget cuts today. Full Story
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Early voting begins, state agencies scramble to cut spending and a Clinton antagonist moves back to Texas. Full Story
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If editorial boards had the last say, next month’s primaries would be a moot point and gubernatorial candidates could have spent Valentine’s Day eating stale candy like the rest of us. Some of Texas’ largest newspapers weighed in last weekend on their choice for governor and U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and former Houston Mayor Bill White grabbed the lion’s share. Full Story
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Hu, Philpott, and Ramsey on the Democratic gubernatorial debate, the pre-game, the post-game, and the highlight reel. Thevenot on the push for accountability in persistently low-performing schools. M. Smith on the Republican assault on sitting Republican appellate judge. Hamilton on a county with more than one Tea Party trying to claim conservative voters. With lawmakers staring down a growing budget crunch, Aguilar looks back at the last one for instruction. Grissom finds that U.S. Border Patrol has quietly stopped a program to deport illegal immigrants through Presidio. Ramshaw reports on a West Texas nurse who got into and out of criminal trouble for complaining about a doctor she worked with. The second University of Texas/Texas Tribune Poll finds Rick Perry and Bill White with big leads in their respective party primaries. Rapoport found herself in the eye of the storm, traveling with Debra Medina on the day the candidate unexpectedly and disastrously made national news when Glenn Beck asked her on his radio shows about the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11. The best of our best from February 8 to 12, 2010. Full Story
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